237 graduate from Community College High School

Friday, June 17, 2005 | 9:07 a.m.

At a graduation ceremony Thursday, 237 Community College High School graduates celebrated the program's 10th annual commencement, accepting two different degrees.

The entire senior class passed the Nevada State Proficiency Exams, said Principal Karen Phillips. She estimated that 96 percent of the graduates are going on to universities or community colleges. The rest are entering military service, apprenticeships, trade programs or other jobs, she said.

The Community College of Southern Nevada and the Clark County School District began offering a dual-credit program in 1996 for students who want a head start on college studies or careers, Phillips said. They can earn an associate degree at the college level while completing high school requirements.

Each semester during their junior and senior years, students take required classes for high school graduation then pick from elective college courses taught by community college faculty.

In the end, they receive a high school diploma and an associate's degree.

Marc Smereck teaches at the Henderson campus of the community college.

"We're the best kept secret in the (Clark County School) District," Smereck said.

The dual-degree program attracts a wide variety of students, from those first in their families to earn a college degree, to second language students. A total of 411 students were enrolled in the program this spring.

"It meets the need of people who are dedicated," Smereck said.

The School District pays for up to 12 college credits a semester, but if a student fails there, then the parents are responsible for paying the fees, she said.

Parents and students have to be motivated before they sign up for the college-level courses, Smereck said.

Students may also study automotive repair, nursing or earn an EMT certificate.

One of Smereck's former students graduated with an EMT certificate, needed special permission to ride in an ambulance because he was younger than 18 years when he graduated and today attends medical school in New Mexico.

One of Thursday's graduates, 18-year-old Tameka Wingo, said her college degree gives her an academic boost to begin studies in bioengineering, she said.

She took 16 credits, equal to five college classes, each semester for two years.

Wingo plans to attend UNLV in the fall to be followed by studies at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

"I got into every school I applied to," she said.

She yearned to go to Hampton University in Virginia at first, but then visited Tuskegee.

"When I saw how beautiful it was, I accepted," Wingo said.

With her bioengineering education, Wingo said she wants to design prosthetic devices for people who need limbs replaced.

Also in Thursday's graduating class were Natalie Minev and Christine Prato. They graduated with honors.

Minev, 18, plans to study English and journalism at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Like Wingo, she took college courses with smaller sizes and college-level professors for two years at through the Community College High School system.

Prato's goal is to study biochemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno, then go to medical school to become a radiology oncologist.

"It was alot of work, but it was worth it in the end," 17-year-old Prato said as she lined up to go into the Orleans Arena.